Page 20 of Sloane

"Why are you two so busy in here today?" I spin around again, letting the bolts on the ceiling all meld together and make me dizzy. "Usually, you're out and about hanging out, but you've been cooped up in here since movie night unless you're sleeping."

Holoth closes his eyes, the first reaction I've gotten out of him besides general disinterest. I roll with it. I don't know if he's remembering how he snored through the whole movie, how he was woken up when Essa found out Jovi, Alik, and I were fooling around, or if he's just uncomfortable being reminded of my role on this ship. Either way, it's something to go off of that isn't him giving me the most basic and boring answers to all of my questions.

"What's that look for?"

"No look." Holoth slips even more by sounding tired.

"There was definitely a look." I wiggle my brows at him. Not that he notices since he's still staring at the radar. "Come on, Holoth, entertain me!"

"You have two males perfectly capable of entertaining you," he says through gritted teeth. His statement has my spirits dying,and I slouch in the chair, losing all enthusiasm for this line of questioning.

"They want nothing to do with me, so no, I really don't."

Holoth glances over at me for a moment. A look so slight, so quick I almost don't even catch it before he's back to staring at the radar. "I doubt that."

"Well, let's see, we had a mutually beneficial night together, after which one of them ran off, and the other walked me to my room, where I slept all alone and kind of sad. Since then, they haven't even acknowledged that I exist, so yeah, I'd say they don't want anything to do with me."

I stop spinning in my chair, the bottom of my toes squeaking against the floor. It's a pathetic answer, but Holoth's giving way too much credit to my abilities to keep anyone interested in me.

Apparently, I'm great for one night of fun, but after that, I'm not worthy of even talking to them until they want to get their dicks wet again. Which, okay, fair enough since that's what I signed on for. Doesn't feel very good when I thought at least Jovi and I were friends.

Holoth, for sure, looks at me this time, and he doesn't even look away when I notice. He studies my face for a long moment, his eyes narrowing on the emotions I'm trying hard to keep from spilling out in the form of tears.

"Why do you care?" he asks, and it makes me feel even worse somehow.

I let out a sad little laugh. "I don't know, man. I thought we were friends, I guess." I throw my hands up, realizing how dumb it all sounds. "I get along well enough with Essa and with you and Phial. I thought maybe…" I shake my head, letting the words trail off, not needing any of them to know deep down. I was kind of hoping they'd all want me to stay, too, even though the only thing I have to offer anyone on this ship is my body.

"You thought what?" Holoth turns to me, his hands on his thighs as he leans forward. "We've had plenty of pleasure crew come through this ship, and not a single one has acted like you do, so none of us really knows what to do with you. Do you want to be our friend? Okay, three of the five of us do that for you. Why should it matter what their opinions of you are? They can be your job, and we can be your friends. That sounds more than pleasant, in my opinion."

"You wouldn't want them as friends anyway," Phial adds, his talons clicking against the floor as he walks back over to his seat. "They get too worked up and want to fight everyone."

I don't miss the way Phial's blaster is casually held in his hand or how he's walking with a slight limp. His feathers ruffle behind him when he notices me looking at him, but then he's flicking the blaster, telling me to get out of his seat. I scurry out, not wanting to keep him on his feet any longer if he's actually hurt.

"Which one?" Holoth asks, sinking back into his chair and putting his hands behind his head.

Phial looks over at me where I'm standing and fiddling with my fingers, unsure if I'm even allowed in here now that one of them is hurt. His eyes go to the pendant around my neck, a question popping up in his mind that he thinks better of asking me.

I've thought about flipping the pendant to green just to see if they'd talk to me then, but that seems even more pathetic than moping around the spaceship and bothering the other three.

"Jovi's having a bad day," Phial says as he swivels his chair back to the comm screens and starts messing with them. "I pulled my gun on him, and he calmed down."

"Gun already." Holoth smiles, but his tone is hollow as he rubs at his temples. He doesn't bother not voicing the question that Phial thought better of asking. "Mind calming them down if you're able? They'll get more and more dangerous if not."

"They know she's in here. It's why he was so angry in the first place," Phial says, rubbing at his leg after he straps his gun back in its holster. "If you're not going to calm them down, we probably shouldn't leave until you can."

I eye the door to the navigation pit, unsure if Jovi or Alik is going to bust in at any moment. Alik didn't seem that angry when he came into the kitchen earlier, but then again, he looked depressed more than anything else.

If they're that upset about me being here, why haven't they come to find me themselves? Why haven't they just said something to me about it?

"They can't come in here," Phial says when I don't respond to either of them. He stares at the door and kicks his legs up. "Locked them out starting yesterday. When they get in bad moods, it's best to keep them separated from other males. They see us as competition."

"Competition for what?"

Phial and Holoth both snort at that and then grow concerned when they realize I don't know what they're talking about. Phial cocks his head to the side, his feathers bristling before he uses his hand to smooth out the ones on his head. "Competition for you."

"We've had the pretty human locked up in here with us for so long today, and they're ready to rip us apart limb from limb. I can guarantee it." Holoth chuckles but continues staring at the radar. "She thinks they don't want her."

Phial throws his head back in laughter, causing a fresh blush to erupt in my cheeks and down to my chest. It would be very much appreciated if everyone could stop pretending like they know everything, and I know nothing about how Jovi and Alik are treating me since I'm the one currently being treated the way they're treating me.

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